.

Without losing an instant Leslie whipped out his knife, and with a few
strokes of its keen blade freed the unfortunate girl from her bonds;
then, without saying a word to her, or wasting time in asking questions,
he raised her tenderly in his arms, and, hauling the canoe alongside the
catamaran, carried her aboard the latter and gently laid her upon the
mattress that he had brought along with him for her especial benefit.
The girl was practically in a state of collapse from her protracted
sufferings; but by pouring a little brandy between her lips, and gently
chafing her limbs where they had been compressed by the tightly drawn
bonds, and thus restoring the arrested circulation of the blood, he at
length brought her back to a sense of her surroundings. And then, as
might have been expected, as soon as she fully realised that she had
been rescued, and that she had nothing further to fear from her late
captors, her tensely strained nerves suddenly gave way and she broke
into a passion of weeping so violent that it thoroughly alarmed Leslie,
who, poor ignorant creature, knew not what to do. Therefore, in the
extremity of his ignorance, he did the very best thing possible; that is
to say, he took her into his arms and soothed her with many tender and
loving words. And as soon as she was calm enough to eat and drink, he
placed food and wine before her, and set her a good example by eating
and drinking heartily himself, chattering trivialities all the time to
divert her mind, so far as he could, from her recent terrible adventure.
Then, when she had taken all that he could persuade her to swallow, he
insisted that she must lie down and endeavour to sleep.

The rescue of Flora having been happily effected, Leslie was naturally
anxious to get back to the island as quickly as possible; for he dreaded
lest the fearful shock that the girl had sustained, the long hours of
intense physical suffering and of even more intense mental agony that
she had endured, should seriously affect her health, and it was only on
the island itself that he could afford her the requisite care and
attention to ward off or battle with such a result. He therefore at
once hauled his wind, and, with the captured canoe in tow, headed the
catamaran on her homeward journey.

And now it was that for the first time he fully realised how strongly
the trade wind was really blowing, for, close-hauled as the catamaran
was, she felt the full strength of the